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Picpress took home first place at the 2010 HP Indigo Digital Printing Contest in the ‘special processes’ category for its entry, Clive’s Photography (pictured). Picpress also won gold at this year’s National Print Awards, where it took home the Currie Group sponsors award.

Director Michael Warchall told ProPrint the awards proved the company had the made the right decision by entering the high-end digital printing market.

“We’re a bunch of photographers that got together two years ago to set up a digital division, predominantly for customers who are professional photographers,” said Warshall.

He added that the team was “basically forced into it” due to a gap in the market. “I’ve been in the labs business for 35 years since I left school. Between us we have 180 years of experience.”

Picpress has partnered with local web-to-print software developer Photo Merchant to develop an online storefront for its customers in the professional and “pro-sumer” markets.

Warshall said that despite the company’s awards track record, the past two years of trading hadn’t hit the heights he had expected when compared with the US and Europe.

“I have friends overseas, ex lab professionals, who have done a similar thing, but growth here hasn’t been as fast as I anticipated.”

“Australia has the highest uptake of technology of anywhere in the world except for in online ordering and web to print, where it is lagging behind,” he added.

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